Page 104 of Master of Lies

“Shut up.” Something about my tone made all four men go very quiet.

I turned to Jed, keeping my back very straight. I would not show weakness in front of this man. Even more importantly, I wouldn’t show it in front of Holly. I was all she had, when it came to female role models, so I had to stop being a gibbering idiot and show her how not to be trampled. How not to let her heart get shattered in public. Like, when a guy pledges eternal love and devotion, and then after a nightmare of torture and mortal peril,poof. He disappears for seven weeks. Without a word.

Yeah. Like that.

I cleared my throat. “So,” I said faintly. “Why are you here, Jed?”

Jed looked lost. “I had to talk to you,” he said. “Since you didn’t respond to my emails, or my texts. Or my letters.”

I gazed at him, shocked. “Emails? Texts?” Then I turned and stared at my brother, whose arms were crossed. He had that stone-faced look. “Ethan?” I said. “Did you actually censor my communications? You dared to do that to me?”

“You didn’t need any distraction,” he said. “You needed peace and quiet and safety. You needed to heal. Not have some fucking idiot galumphing around and demanding your attention!”

The rage that came over me was so intense, it made me shake. I just didn’t understand how this man could claim to love me and still be such a goddamn idiot.

“You thought you could decide for me,” I said. “As if I was a child. That’s over, Ethan. Never again. Or you will lose me, and that would be a big shame.”

“I did what I thought was best,” Ethan protested.

“Well, that’s not your call anymore. It never really was.” I turned to Jed. “So, did you have something you wanted to say to me?”

Jed glanced around the room. “Could we, ah, maybe go someplace private?”

I was about to tell him no, just to be a snotty bitch, because I was still generally pissed off at everyone, but then Ethan barged in.

“No,” he said brusquely. “You can say it right here. In front of everyone.”

Of course, that got my back up all over again. “Oh, shut up, Ethan,” I snapped, turning to Jed. “Follow me.”

“Bad idea, Frey,” Ethan said.

“Did I ask for your opinion? I did not. Leave me alone.”

Jed trailed me out of the room, and Holly scampered alongside until we got to the main living room on this level. Ethan followed, flat-mouthed and fuming.

I stopped at the entrance, kissed Holly on the top of her head, and shooed my brother away with a flutter of my fingers. “Excuse us,” I said. “Later.”

I shut the door, then leaned against it, staring at him. He looked as good as ever, in spite of the fresh marks on the side of his face, the new bump on his nose. But he had such a grim, haunted look.

“So,” I said briskly. “You sent me messages. I never got them. That’s classic Ethan for you. I really need to get the hell away from here, and get back to my own place in Seattle, but he’s so paranoid. And I can’t entirely blame him.”

“Me, neither,” Jed said. “You’re safer here, as long as Nicole’s on the loose.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Plus, there’s Holly. And I was all messed up for a few weeks, so he’s even more overprotective than usual.” I hesitated. “And you were nowhere to be found.”

“I did not hide from you,” he said forcefully. “I would never. On the contrary. You’d have to drive me away with a stick, and I’d still come back for more. Ethan whisked you away to that fancy private clinic somewhere while we were both sedated. I had some surgeries, too, so I was stuck. As soon as I had my wits back, I texted you. Over and over. But I got no answer. So I started to wonder if silence was your answer.”

I let that sink in for a couple of minutes. “Really, Jed?” I said. “After what I did? Calling Boer, inviting him to kidnap me? I stretched out on a fucking sacrificial altar for you. Was that not enough of a declaration of love? What do you want from me, blood? I spilled plenty of that!”

“I know,” he said. “I hate it that you had to fucking rescue me, risk everything for me. I don’t blame Ethan for being pissed.”

“For God’s sake, you saved my ass over and over! Who gives a shit who saves who?” I yelled. “And my brother is irrelevant. He does not own me. He has no authority over me. This is between you and me. He might not understand that, but he soon will.”

“But…but I couldn’t keep you safe. I couldn’t even keep myself safe.”

“I’ll decide what to risk,” I said. “I have the right to do dumb shit and almost get myself killed, as much as you or Shane, or anyone else does.”

“I know. But Ethan told me to fuck off and go find Nicole. And that made sense to me. That seemed like an appropriate thing to do with my time and energy.”

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